Closure
by Prism0467
Summary: Sequel to Constructive Possession. Giftfic for Kyuubi1010. Shikamaru's past and present collide when he finds himself face-to-face with the duo that broke his heart. NejiShika TemaSaku AU OOC yaoi yuri
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Surprise! This is a oneshot birthday giftfic for the best fan artist in the fandom, **Kyuubi1010**, who wanted to know what would happen if Shikamaru and Neji were suddenly reunited with Shikamaru's old flames, Temari and Sakura. It follows _Constructive Possession_ in the timeline, preceding _Inevitabile Resveglio_. And there's YURI! It's just a tad, but it's there.

For those of you fiending for new _Kindred_ AU fanfiction, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own _Naruto_ or any of the characters. I make no money from the writing of this story.

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**Warning**: unbeta'd; AU; angst; drama; humor; language; yaoi; yuri

* * *

"Neji, you know, I feel like I've gained another son."

It had been five days since the fateful Saturday that changed everything. Five days since the infamous dinner party, since Neji's adorably awkward confession of his love for Shikamaru, since the bizarre, sexually-charged showdown between Hiashi and the scheming Tenten.

Five days since Neji first lay on his back for Shikamaru during an amazing night of passion.

"Shikamaru, I'm so happy it didn't take you seven years to get a clue the way it took your father. Men like Neji here and his uncle don't just fall out of the sky."

Five days since the reunion of the threesome made up of Shikamaru's parents and Neji's uncle.

"You two make quite a vision sitting there together. You can just imagine how I felt on Saturday, what with the four of you in the same room. It was a dream come true!"

Neji and Shikamaru quickly learned that their lives would not return to normal. Indeed, normal had been redefined, as evidenced by Neji's convalescence on Sunday; the same-day delivery of a video, recorded in the garage of his building, of Shikamaru's parents allegedly doing it like bunnies in the back seat of their luxury sedan…

"If only we'd all met a couple of decades ago… of course, the two of you would have been children then."

…and Yoshino's surprise visit to the police station, where she was greeted personally by a thoroughly amused Captain Hatake. Not one to miss an opportunity, he flirted recklessly with her in front of the gods, the entire department _and_ her son, who was none too pleased with the situation. Neji observed the rather put-out special investigator's hand slipping closer and closer to his holstered firearm before the Hyuuga stayed it. Instinct warned him their freaky-eyed shift commander was probably a faster draw, and Neji didn't need to have it confirmed in front of the gods, the entire department, _and_ Shikamaru's mother.

Afterward, with the captain's blessing, Yoshino dragged them to a sidewalk café for lunch, where they now sat and listened as she blathered in giddiness to them.

"This week has just been so amazing!" she declared, staring at the two men with a gigantic smile. She wore large, dark designer sunglasses that shielded her eyes from view.

They stared back silently from behind polished Ray-Bans, the bright sunlight glinting off the metal frames.

"Well, my goodness, you two have hardly said a word! Come on, I didn't interrupt anything too important when I showed up at the station, did I?" Yoshino asked.

"No, but Captain Hatake is never, _ever_ going to let me live down the fact that I received a visit from my mother at work", Shikamaru responded.

"And as a consequence", Neji added, "Neither will anyone else at the station."

Yoshino waved a hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Honestly, you two, is it really going to be _that_ hard to live down?"

"Yes, it will", the officers responded in unison.

An oblivious Yoshino could only giggle at their response, delighted at how in tune they were with each other.

"So, Neji", she continued in a lower voice, leaning forward as if conspiring, "was it your idea to bring my son to your home the night you seduced him, or was it Shikamaru's? I'm just dying to know."

Shikamaru was grateful for his mother's attempt at discretion. He was also glad neither he nor Neji had been eating or drinking anything, or someone would have choked for certain. "Mom", he cautioned.

"Relax, dear, I'm only making conversation", she defended.

Shikamaru leaned forward then, lowering his voice as well. "We can talk about something else. Neji and I are on duty."

"Well, I've been _trying_. Shikamaru, why are you always denying me the pleasure of the intimate details? When did you become so…stodgy?" Yoshino pouted in the cutest way. "You certainly don't get that from your parents."

_Gods, are you _pouting? "Mom, we are _not_ going to have this discussion with you, and if we were it would certainly not be here…"

Neji watched in silent amusement as his partner defended the privacy of their intimate relations to his mother--who seemed to have very little shame regarding her own intimacies--and allowed himself to smile a little.

Yes, normal as they knew it had ceased to exist.

Instinct prodded Neji again, causing him to look away from his tablemates. He scanned their immediate area from behind his sunglasses, his eyes stopping to rest just over Yoshino's shoulder, on two women standing a short distance away on the sidewalk.

The women, a curvy, leggy blonde with curly hair bound into four sections, and a slighter, shorter one who looked like she was wearing a pink wig, stood shoulder-to-shoulder as they openly watched Neji and his companions from behind dark sunglasses with what seemed to be considerable interest.

They turned to look at each other at the same time, before turning back to stare once more. The blonde wore an irritating smirk on her face.

_Trouble_, Neji's instinct warned. He didn't say anything—Shikamaru and his mother were still disagreeing—but he refused to take his eyes off the pair.

"I mean, how is it that the two of you get any work done? You must spend all day fighting off people making passes at you", Yoshino wondered aloud.

"We're both armed", Neji offered, his eyes still on the two women. "It's an excellent deterrent."

"Especially when Hyuuga here has his gun drawn", Shikamaru finished.

From behind his shades he cut a glance at his partner. He knew that trick well; they'd been practicing it together for years.

Shikamaru had only been scanning the area for a couple of seconds when he, too, spotted them. He stiffened visibly, forcing breath from his lungs.

* * *

Recognition caused Shikamaru's heartbeat to upshift. He could hardly believe his own eyes. In the nearly six years since he'd seen Temari and Sakura, they hadn't changed much—a bit heavier, perhaps, but they were still the same two sexy, beautiful women he would make love to into the wee hours when they were a threesome.

It wasn't good to see them _per se_. The sight of them together represented a kind of pain the Nara never wanted to experience again. Besides, he didn't miss them anymore. If anything, Shikamaru was happy to know they were still together. He'd long since decided that the two women deserved each other.

Shikamaru felt the ghost of the wound left by their abrupt departure from his life throb in his chest. A myriad of memories from their time together invaded his brain. But the throb in his chest was a phantom, linked to memories that were more like images conjured in his mind by a story relayed to him from someone else.

That's when he knew he had Neji to thank for a vigorous heart full of fresh memories. So much had happened between them. In such a short time, Neji had gone from just being his partner on the job and secret crush to becoming his real love, his flesh-and-blood present and future.

Neji was his strength.

* * *

"You know them?" the Hyuuga asked in a low voice. He'd heard, rather than seen, his partner's reaction.

Shikamaru nodded almost imperceptibly.

Yoshino stared at the two men, whose demeanor seemed to have changed in an instant. "What is it?" she asked calmly.

"Gods", Shikamaru spoke, "not today." _Not ever_.

The nature of his job demanded he be ready for anything, but this…

Yoshino cocked her head in confusion.

Shikamaru removed his sunglasses then, training anxious eyes on his mother. They shifted for only a moment, enough for her to get the hint, before he replaced the sunglasses on his face.

"Wha—" she began and looked around, turning her body to see two women approaching behind her.

She instantly frowned in recognition.

It was _them_.

* * *

Their approach was slow, casual. They stopped far enough away from Yoshino's chair not to block her from pushing herself away from the table, and quietly took in the scene. A sexy new button-down Shikamaru they'd never seen before sat at the bistro table next to a pretty long-haired man in a suit. Shikamaru's mother, a woman they both remembered well, rounded out the trio.

They were all wearing sunglasses in the mid-day sun, so no one's eyes were visible--not that either of the two women needed to see anyone's eyes to know they were being scrutinized by them.

"Shikamaru Nara", Temari announced in a mocking voice, standing with one hand on a cocked hip. "I heard you had become a cop. I wondered where the police department would find logic in adding someone as lazy as you are to the force, but I suppose stranger things have happened."

She shifted her head toward Shikamaru's companion. "They even assigned you a baby-sitter", she added, quirking a blonde brow. "Nice hair."

"Temari!" Sakura scolded, wide-eyed behind her shades, but the blonde did not even look at her.

_So...this must be the "B" team,_ Neji thought to himself as he sat and watched them. _The infamous duo dumb enough to throw Shikamaru away._

_I'm going to make sure I enjoy this._

Shikamaru eyed the blonde casually. _Yes_, that was the Temari he remembered. She'd always been a spitfire, so different from the blushing Sakura. Temari was always challenging him in that way of hers that, as troublesome as he'd always claimed it was, once ignited his passion for her.

He could only guess what Neji must have been thinking at that moment.

Shikamaru stood up slowly, moving around the table to stand between in front of the two women, his stance that of the person in charge of the situation.

Temari's face morphed once again into the smirk that Neji found so annoying. She folded her arms across her chest and stiffened her spine, preparing for the verbal duel that hallmarked their time together.

Before she could utter a word, however, Shikamaru's mother got up from her seat at the table and moved to stand beside her son, mimicking Temari's stance.

_A standoff at high noon_, Neji observed silently. _This gets better and better._

* * *

_Hmph_. Subtly, or perhaps not, Temari scanned the lovely woman from her head to her feet and back again, blatantly undressing her with her eyes from behind dark glasses.

_She always was a fox._

Shikamaru, of course, missed nothing.

"What do you two want?" Yoshino asked in a deceptively calm voice. "You have no business here."

"I think Shikamaru would disagree with you", Temari parried smugly.

"You always did have a tendency to overanalyze me", Shikamaru told her.

Sakura was stunned by Shikamaru's comment. Of course the breakup hadn't been pleasant, but he wasn't still hurting after all this time, was he? He was only defending his mother, right?

"You two had my son caught up in your drama for two years. You seemed to take great pleasure in ripping out his heart, stomping it into road kill and then squat-pissing on the remains. Now he may have forgiven you--we both have--but I am his mother, and I won't ever forget the mess you made of him."

Yoshino stepped forward, directly in front of Temari then. "And if I were you right now, I would turn around and go back the way I came."

Temari was offended by the unmistakable warning in her tone. Of all the nerve!

She looked at Yoshino, then at Shikamaru, and shook her head.

"You haven't changed", she assessed. "You're still the unrepentant mama's boy who got cut from the team."

Sakura watched her lover warily. She hadn't expected Temari to be so…bitter.

Yoshino snorted then, a sort of sassy gesture that Temari found irritating.

"Take a _good look_, little girl", Yoshino told her, her shaded eyes narrowed. "Despite what you think, this isn't the little boy you 'cut from the team', as you so eloquently put it. He doesn't need me to take care of him any more than he needs you to. He does a fine job of taking care of himself, and he's got someone in his life now who adores him—"

"_Mom_", Shikamaru interjected, cutting her off. He didn't need her to go down that trail right now. In the current situation, it would too easily lead to the man still sitting at the table, and no one would benefit from that.

Given the current situation, Shikamaru found the wave of contempt coming from his mother troubling—and unexpected. Never before had she conveyed any ill feelings toward the girls—but then he supposed it made sense. In the aftermath, Shikamaru had gone to his mother for comfort; revealing her true feelings for them would have been anything but comforting at the time. After all, he was still in love with them and living under the illusion that they could have had a future together.

"Well if that's the case, then I'm happy for you, Shikamaru", Sakura blurted, causing everyone to look at her. Anxious green eyes shifted between Yoshino and Shikamaru and pointedly ignored her lover's scowl.

Was that regret he heard in her voice? Shikamaru wasn't sure. He didn't know Sakura anymore. He never really knew her, he realized. She managed with consummate skill to pull the wool over his eyes and keep it there, right up until the day they threw him out. He honestly never saw it coming.

He couldn't see her eyes today. He wondered if they were still the translucent green he remembered.

Then she made a face of something that looked like hope, and Shikamaru found himself helpless to respond.

"I appreciate that Sakura, thank you", he told her with a smirk.

She responded with a wide, closed-lipped grin.

"Hmph", Temari sounded, disrupting their moment. "Whoever she is, I'm sure she has her work cut out for her, especially if Mrs. Nara is watch-dogging this new development."

Neji continued to listen quietly from his seat at the table.

Shikamaru didn't rise to the bait. "It's hardly anything you need to concern yourself with", he told her quietly.

"Hmph", she sounded again, annoyed with the repartee. Shikamaru didn't seem to want to argue with her anymore. She used to find perverse pleasure in pointing out his relationship faults during their many verbal spars. On that playing field, she and Sakura always had the tactical advantage.

Temari turned her attention to the striking young man still sitting at the table. She decided he was too pretty to be a male cop. He hadn't moved or spoken since they'd arrived. He reminded her of Shikamaru, the way he calmly observed everything from the background, collecting information like some sort of investigator.

She didn't like that.

"So tell me", she began, moving away from Sakura, Shikamaru and Yoshino to stand closer to him, "what do you think of Shikamaru's new squeeze? Is she all Mrs. Nara claims, or is the lady full of hot air?"

Neji had observed the way Temari approached them, challenged Shikamaru, and reacted to Yoshino's challenge. Now she was clearly after him. Addressing her question to him was her not-so-sly way of conducting her reconnaissance—Neji guessed she thought she might have found an ally against Shikamaru.

If only she knew.

"What could Mrs. Nara legitimately hope to gain by lying to the two of you?" he asked calmly, standing up from his seat to tower over the blonde, who was shorter than Shikamaru.

Neji knew all eyes were on him. He had the floor, and intended to indulge himself. He kept his focus on Temari, clearly the cynic of the two women.

"I know the new squeeze, quite well, in fact", he began in that proper voice. "There is no one better suited to Shikamaru. There is no one more patient, more intelligent, more nurturing, or more loyal." Neji paused, observing her response.

"And I am confident there never has been", he concluded.

_You left out kinder, more beautiful and more sexually compatible,_ Shikamaru thought to himself, feeling smug but trying not to let on.

Temari quirked a brow behind her sunglasses. "How nice for Shikamaru, then. Too bad for you, though, I suppose."

"Oh, indeed", Neji responded, not missing a beat. "It is my feeling that a clone of the new squeeze would simply find another Nara mate. That is how amazing their relationship is."

It wasn't the response Temari was after, and Neji knew it. But the faster she realized she had no ally in him, the sooner they would be rid of her.

"Hmph", Temari sounded, indicating her trademark annoyance. "You're quite a cheerleader for Shikamaru and his new squeeze", she assessed. "You don't feel like his personal relationship gets in the way of your work?"

"I might if there were less civilized people involved", Neji responded. _You're wasting your time, lady._

Yoshino was smugly delighted. _That's telling her, Neji_.

Shikamaru was shocked at how well he managed to conceal his amusement. _I might have to blow you in the car for this._

Sakura was stunned. _Wow. Shikamaru is surrounded by people who love him._

Temari, however, smelled a rat.

* * *

"Well then, it seems you owe Sakura and me a thank you, Shikamaru", Temari declared, turning away from Neji. "By all accounts, we did you a tremendous favor."

"That your exit from my son's life was a favor has never been in question, Temari", Yoshino responded smugly. "It was your methods we found fault with."

Temari looked at Yoshino then. "Your son couldn't take a hint, Mrs. Nara. We had to be cruel to be kind."

"Is that what you told yourselves so you could sleep at night?" Yoshino responded.

"If anyone lost any sleep, it was Shikamaru", Temari announced. "There were three people involved in that relationship, Mrs. Nara. Your son was not without fault."

"He still didn't deserve to be cast aside like recycled plastic. Shikamaru cared for the two of you; he would never have treated you that way."

Temari smirked. "Now it's your turn to take a good look. He's a big boy, Mrs. Nara. He seems to have recovered. Now why don't _you_ do the honorable thing and pull your tit out of his mouth?"

Loud gasping was heard.

"Temari!" Sakura exclaimed, mouth agape. What was _wrong_ with her?

"That's _enough_!" Shikamaru barked in that authoritative, law enforcement voice.

"Shikamaru, Mrs. Nara, I'm sorry", Sakura pleaded in response. She walked over to where Temari stood, her head cocked as she watched her.

"Don't apologize for me, Sakura", Temari scolded. "Shikamaru hasn't changed, look! He traded one set of wet nurses for another one", she said, gesturing with her arm. "Except this time, he got one with a penis."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura questioned.

"I guess since he couldn't be _with_ us, then he tried to _be_ us", Temari responded, turning to look at Neji then. "Isn't that right, _Pocahontas?_"

Neji suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Women were so predictable, it was just plain boring. "Honestly, _Temari_," he responded casually, emphasizing her name, "what's the difference? Either way, it's not you anymore."

"Temari, are you suggesting that Shikamaru is involved with his _partner?_" Sakura asked in disbelief.

* * *

**A/N**: this is part one of two. Please proceed to the next chapter.


	2. Closure Chapter 2 and final

Temari ignored her lover; too busy practically snarling at Neji to even call her on her ignorance. The blonde had been Shikamaru's upgrade from Sakura, and Sakura was her upgrade from Shikamaru. She never imagined that Shikamaru _could_ upgrade from being in a relationship with two young, beautiful women at once. And to think that his upgrade was a man! _A man,_ for a man with an 11-inch cock who enjoyed pussy as much as she knew Shikamaru did? It was unthinkable!

But _this_ man, she begrudged, was not just any man—he was simply the most beautiful man she'd ever laid eyes on, a cop like Shikamaru, with a similar personality. Suited to him--just like he'd told her.

And they looked amazing together.

The two women had gone in search of Shikamaru, at Sakura's pleading. Their relationship had evolved to a stage where they considered bringing children into the equation, but Sakura was still feeling guilty for the way they had dumped Shikamaru all those years ago. She needed closure—a fact Temari found ridiculous. But Sakura was her love, her partner, her mate.

And so, together, they made a plan.

It hadn't taken them long to locate Shikamaru. They discovered through research that he had become a decorated Special Investigator with his department. Sakura practically squealed when they spotted them all having lunch, but Temari, even as she watched him, still refused to believe he'd actually made something useful of himself.

She didn't want to believe he was no longer the layabout she remembered. She wanted to deny he'd become even sexier, with his expensive sunglasses and holstered firearm. She didn't want to think that his mother, who was aging very well, supported this—this _fling_—he was having with his partner. His _very male_ partner.

Was he taking that ridiculously long thing up his ass? _Seriously?_

She didn't want to believe that the Shikamaru they'd cast aside was _happy_ without them, let alone _happier, _and_ certainly not happier with a man_.

For the life of her, though, she wasn't sure why. Shikamaru Nara was ancient history. Why did it matter?

"Listen, Temari, I think we're getting way off base here." Sakura placed a gentle hand on her lover's shoulder. She didn't understand Temari's hostility, but they could discuss it later.

Sakura turned to Shikamaru then. "Shikamaru, our running into you today wasn't a coincidence."

"Oh?" Yoshino asked.

Sakura shook her head. "I asked Temari to help me find you."

She walked back over to where Shikamaru stood, facing him, took a deep breath, and removed her sunglasses.

_There_. Crystalline green eyes looked at him, as stunning as he'd remembered. She smiled then, another hopeful smile that reached her eyes.

Shikamaru thought it was beautiful. He reached up slowly, and then removed his own sunglasses.

Piercing dark eyes met bright green for the first time in nearly six years. He watched the way the gentle wind tousled the pink hair that framed her face. He'd always thought Sakura defined prettiness, not the other way around.

The others looked on in silence.

"You look good, Shikamaru", she began. "You look…healthy."

"Thanks", was his monosyllabic reply.

When she realized he wasn't going to at least respond in kind, she continued. "I uh, the reason we came, uh…gods, this is harder than I thought it would be", she babbled awkwardly, looking away.

Sakura had imagined this differently. She had imagined holding Shikamaru's hand in hers, imagined seeing him smile. She had imagined privacy…space. She had imagined forgiveness.

That was the closure she'd hoped for.

Instead she was standing outside in public beneath the noon sun. A smirk was the closest thing to a smile she'd seen from Shikamaru since they'd arrived. His mother was standing guard right beside them.

Shikamaru was even armed.

Sakura took a deep breath and tried again, focusing her eyes on her ex-lover. "Things ended…badly between us. Temari tried to convince me it was fine, but when we didn't hear from you…it's not always a good thing when someone disappears from your life without a trace."

Sakura fiddled with the sunglasses in her hand. "Temari and I really love each other, Shikamaru. Neither of us knew things were going to happen the way they did—"

"If you came all this way to try to justify what the two of you did, then spare me the unsolicited rhetoric", Shikamaru interjected. There was boredom in his voice.

"That's not it", she responded in a rush, shaking her head vigorously. She suppressed the urge to look at Temari, knowing the blonde would convince her with only a look to abandon her efforts and leave.

Sakura was determined to finish this. She decided cutting to the chase would be most effective.

"Temari and I want children", she told him. "We intend to start a family. I couldn't do it…I mean I could, I-I will, b-but there was something else I needed to do first."

This would have been the part where Sakura reached for Shikamaru's hand, but decided against the attempt.

She looked into hard, dark eyes and gulped. "I need to tell you that I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I'm sorry for the way things happened. I-If I'd been a better person, things would have gone differently.

Y-you believe me, don't you?" she asked, and then wondered why she'd bothered.

Instinct compelled her to look away again, but she fought it. "I know my apology is coming late, and may not be very welcome, but I couldn't move forward until I could look you in the eyes and tell you that I never meant for things to happen the way they did. Temari and I are…happy, and we want you to be happy too."

Her voice…it was someone else's. The words sounded so alien to her ears. She had had a wild hair to rehearse an apology, but ended up discarding the idea.

A genuine apology was one of those things you just couldn't rehearse.

"I'm sorry Shikamaru", Sakura repeated, her voice stronger. "And I wish you the best, with your work, and your new love—" she looked back toward Neji—"everything."

She looked away again helplessly, still fidgeting with the sunglasses in her hand. This was one of the hardest things she'd ever done. She was choking on her guilt, on her humility. And Shikamaru hadn't said anything.

"Gods on a ship!" Sakura heard behind her. "Shikamaru, we came a long way to apologize to you. What are you waiting for?" Temari asked. Her lover was suffering standing there. Was it too much to ask of the man to accept her apology?

"_Your_ apology", Shikamaru responded without missing a beat. "But I'm well aware that we'll all be at least another six years older before I get it."

"I'll need to hear a thank you for dumping you before I award you with an apology for doing it."

Shikamaru shook his head then. "You haven't changed either", he assessed. "You still insist on challenging the alpha male for pack leadership. I'm surprised you threw me out instead of killing me in my sleep."

"What would that have accomplished? I was trying to clean up a mess, not create a bigger one", Temari responded.

"Temari!" Sakura shouted, turning to look at her. "Sometimes your support is anything but supportive."

"Can we _go_ now?" she asked Sakura.

Sakura sighed and turned back to Shikamaru. She wasn't sure what she needed to see in his eyes, but it wasn't there.

She nodded. "It was good to see you again, Shikamaru", she heard herself say.

* * *

"Fun times, Pocahontas", Temari said as she walked away.

"Mrs. Nara", Temari acknowledged as she approached the spot where the three of them stood.

_Good riddance you harpy,_ Yoshino thought to herself.

Temari slipped an arm around Sakura's shoulders and tipped her face up. "Well done", she told her in a gentle voice before pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.

Sakura gave herself to the kiss, feeling her anxiety melt away. The dust was settling after their little adventure, and Temari was still with her, holding her. Life was good.

Neji and Yoshino feasted their eyes. It was rare for them to see two women expressing their feelings for each other in public that way, even though they both knew it was being done to spite Shikamaru.

The Nara had to look away. Seeing them embrace sharpened the images already violating his peace of mind.

To say nothing of the half-hard it was giving him in the broad light of day. To think that _they_ could still affect him like that, after so much time…

The two women broke apart, smiling at each other. Sakura replaced her sunglasses on her face and they turned, together, to go back the way they came.

"Sakura", they heard after taking two steps. They both stopped and turned around.

"Good luck", Shikamaru said.

Sakura's face lit up with a big smile then, not because of what Shikamaru said, but because whatever she had been looking for in his eyes was now trained on her.

_Thank you, Shikamaru_, Temari thought to herself, looking on.

* * *

The trip back to the station would have been a quiet, overly-pensive one were it not for Yoshino Nara, who boisterously declared she had never met a woman with a more chronic case of penis envy in all her life and made everyone laugh in spite of themselves.

* * *

Mrs. Nara had not been gone a full minute before the team of Hyuuga and Nara were called into Captain Hatake's office.

This suited Shikamaru just fine.

* * *

"I'm sorry you had to see that", Shikamaru told Neji.

In honor of the unusual day they'd had, they decided to have their dinner while soaking in Neji's large bathtub. Shikamaru currently sat between Neji's legs while the Hyuuga fed him sushi from a nearby tray.

"Would you prefer to have encountered them again by yourself?" Neji asked.

"Well, no, but you could have done without watching me arguing with Temari", Shikamaru answered.

At the mention of the blond, Neji's resolve disintegrated. He had to ask.

"Shikamaru", he began, "did you _actually_ have sex with that woman?"

The Nara turned his head to look at his lover, who wore a perplexed expression. "Are you kidding? We fucked the way we argued. It was sensational."

Neji had put together the pieces in his mind, but now he needed confirmation. "So you dated the pink one first, and then dated the blonde, and then they formed a 'Shikamaru Nara ex-girlfriends club' and ended up in a relationship with each other", he stated.

"Yes, yes, yes and yes", Shikamaru responded, leaning back against Neji's body more.

"And then they invited you to be part of the relationship with the two of them."

"Yes again."

"So why did things go south?" Neji asked, and Shikamaru chuckled.

"Honestly? I introduced a strap-on into the relationship for them to use when I wasn't available", Shikamaru responded. "Temari is especially gifted with that thing."

"Mm, I don't doubt it." Neji didn't want to imagine the aggressive blonde sporting a strap-on. People would need to lock up their daughters.

"So, in effect, you brought about your own demise", Neji concluded.

That's when it hit him. "She wanted you to bottom, didn't she?" the Hyuuga asked.

"No, Neji", Shikamaru responded, "she _expected_ me to bottom. I came back from visiting my folks and we had a discussion. I made it very clear I wasn't taking that thing up my ass. My shit was on the lawn in the pouring rain less than two weeks later."

_That's harsh_. "And you actually told your mother everything?" Neji asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "They all assumed the relationship dynamic was to blame, and in a way, I guess they were right. You're one of only two people to whom I've ever confessed the whole story."

Neji's eyes grew wide. _Gods on a ship!_ Neji had endured many things, but nothing as bizarre as Shikamaru's previous relationship had been. In Neji's case, his family arranged the same kinds of encounters with the same kinds of people, so there were few surprises. It was easier to prepare yourself psychologically when you knew what was coming.

But how did a man prepare for being unceremoniously dumped by the two women he was dating for refusing to take a strap-on dick up the ass?

"Do you miss them?" Neji asked, biting his lip. Shikamaru had been in love with them. It seemed natural that being with the two of them again would dredge up past memories.

"I did at first", Shikamaru answered. "I mean I did time with them for two years, you know?"

He reached for a long, wet lock of Neji's hair, fingering it with a sigh. "The truth is, I was a mess. Forgiving them was hard. I felt like my purpose had been stolen from me, and I was bitter. Loneliness turned me into this pathetic thing I didn't recognize. Guilt and shame kept me locked away from the rest of the world, not eating, not sleeping, having manic throwing fits or breaking down into spontaneous crying jags, even after I graduated."

Shikamaru paused to remember before continuing. "I never really let myself open up to anyone about it, not even my mother. I just…sort of…wallowed in the misery I felt I deserved.

Then I entered the academy, and I guess I developed the sense of purpose I needed. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and got busy learning how to be a cop, so I didn't really have time to miss them anymore."

Shikamaru felt Neji's arms tighten around him.

"Then graduation came, and my first year as a rookie beat cop. I experienced some brand-new heartache in that year, stuff that made losing those two seem like nothing. This time, I was _forced_ to go to counseling, and it ended up being the catharsis I needed."

_Your other confession_, Neji thought to himself.

"My second year was easier. I found my niche in the minute details of the work. Little by little life was showing me who I was, and where I belonged.

Then you and I became partners, and it was like the final piece of the puzzle being put into place. I was less freaked out by my feelings for you than I would have imagined I'd be. I saw you as a reflection of me in ways that meant something. You were my QC¹—as long as we worked well together, I was doing it right. You became very important to me, Neji. As important as my career, as my folks—as important as _they'd_ once been. I wasn't willing to gamble our partnership in order to tell you how I felt about you."

Shikamaru looked back up at Neji again. "Lucky for me, you're a lot braver than I am."

At that moment Neji felt like the smartest man on the planet. Who knew how much more time might have passed if he hadn't made a move when he did? How many more moments of this bliss they would have forfeited? They might never have made it to where they now were, wrapped around each other in Neji's large bathtub and feeding each other sushi from a porcelain tray.

Shikamaru's love for him made Neji feel ten feet tall. He knew he would spend his life loving the Nara with everything he had and still have love left over for the next life.

"I despise them for what they did to you, Shikamaru", Neji responded. "But I'm grateful too."

Shikamaru smiled. "Yeah, me too."

The Nara maneuvered the two of them in the hot water until he was straddling Neji's lap, facing him with an expression of love.

He wound his arms around his lover's neck and smiled. "That was quite an arousing response you gave Temari this afternoon", he told him, bending his head to brush his lips against the pale column of Neji's throat.

"It was the truth", Neji responded, offering his neck for better access. "Did it get you hard?"

"It got me started", Shikamaru admitted.

Neji bent to kiss a lightly tanned shoulder. "And then they were kissing, and that finished the job."

"Well, not _finished_", Shikamaru clarified.

"I noticed how you looked away", Neji told him.

Shikamaru raised a dark brow. "That didn't get you going, just a little?" he asked his lover.

Neji made a thinking face, something no one but Shikamaru would ever see. "Maybe a little", he confessed.

Shikamaru's face lit up. "_A-ha_, so there's a heterosexual hidden in there someplace _after_ all!" he declared with a chuckle.

Neji was glad it was hot in the tub, so Shikamaru could not tell he was blushing. "More like a voyeur, to be fair", he responded, his voice low.

Shikamaru squirmed in his lover's lap, feeling his passion rising. It was a major turn-on to know that Neji enjoyed the scene that afternoon. "A voyeur who gets off on watching two women together", he clarified in his own sensual, sexual voice.

Neji slipped his hands down from Shikamaru's back, cupping his ass and squeezing gently. "Not nearly as much as I enjoy being with my male lover", he assured him.

"You don't need to tell me that twice", Shikamaru told him.

He leaned in for a kiss and Neji met him, their tongues dueling with each other before their mouths sealed together in a kiss that communicated volumes.

Around them, the water lapped an uneven rhythm.

"Hey", Neji called as they broke apart.

Shikamaru looked into half-lidded pale eyes.

"I love you", Neji told him.

Shikamaru smiled. "I love you too", he replied, and kissed him again.

* * *

**A/N:**

(1) Quality Check.

I miss this AU! I worry that I'll start something I won't finish if I focus on one area for too long, so I switch AU to keep that from happening. This one is, by far, my favorite one. Right now I only have ONE WIP – _Inevitabile Resveglio_. I don't know what I'll do once I've completed that fic. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

**Kyuubi1010**, this one is for **you**. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy birthday lady, and many, many happy returns!!!!!


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